Part 1

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. All praises are due to Allah; we praise Him; we seek His help; we seek His forgiveness; and we seek His guidance. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil in our souls and the badness of our deeds. For whomever Allah guides, there is none to lead him astray. And for whomever He allows to go astray, there is none to guide him. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, for whom there is no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

In this work, the author has done an excellent job of concisely mentioning the most important aspects of the different fiqgh topics he discussed. Furthermore, he has discussed many issues that are not greatly discussed in the English literature, such as the rules concerning bequests and endowments. Hence, this work was chosen to be translated as a welcomed addition to the available English literature.

It should be noted that this work was first written with the intention that it would be translated as a basic and introductory work on figh for the Islamic republics that formerly formed part of the U.S.S.R. To meet that goal, the © author was forced to keep this book free of details and arguments over different figh opinions. Therefore, he had the unenviable task of presenting his conclusions without stating his evidence or reasoning.

For the greater portion of this book, the fiqh opinions expressed are generally agreed upon and non-controversial. Obviously, there are going to be some other points concerning which there is difference of opinion. On these points, many of Dr. al-Sadlaan’s conclusions may be criticized or questioned by some readers. (Some readers may even note that in this